


Breathe Again

by madridistagoblue



Series: Tumblr Fanfiction Prompts [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Furihata is a beautiful cinnamon roll, M/M, Nightmares, Non-Graphic Violence, see notes for content warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 11:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4018609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madridistagoblue/pseuds/madridistagoblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akashi Seijuurou has a nightmare of his past. Fortunately, Furihata is there beside him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathe Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ignite_pass_tetsuya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignite_pass_tetsuya/gifts).



> Written for the tumblr fanfiction prompts meme, based on prompt 10, "breathe again."
> 
> [Content warning: the nightmare contains a brief scene of violence/abuse. However, it is unrelated to the akafuri pairing.]

“Four...to nothing...” Momoi called out the score. Her normally cheerful voice was hushed, though whether that was out of shock, fear, or sadness, Akashi could not tell. 

He looked up at the center in front of him, whose height felt more overwhelming than usual. Deep violet eyes beat down on the captain as the mathematical reality began to sink into his head. Four baskets...to zero. He was a single point away from defeat. 

Akashi thought he heard his teammates whispering something on the sidelines, but their voices faded into the background as his own thoughts became deafening. 

_I, Akashi Seijuurou, am going to lose?_

Akashi could feel his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, his breath quickening to a pace he could hardly control. He tried to inhale slowly, but found himself huffing out the same air a moment later. He felt a strange jolt of nervous energy, as though something was sending his body into overdrive. He tried to calmly name the feeling in his head -- a fight or flight response. He had never lost. Why would he now? 

But Akashi didn’t want to fight anymore. He wanted to run away. 

Akashi’s father’s words repeated in his head like a mantra. He could almost see his future self walking into his home, eyes stained with the bloodshot mark of one who had been crying, as his father’s yellow eyes beat down on him with disappointment. He could hear the crispness in the man’s voice, each syllable louder than the last. And that was to say nothing of the hurt Akashi would feel to have failed as a captain, to know that he could never approach Nijimura in the future without diverting his gaze, knowing how he had betrayed the former captain’s trust in him. 

Akashi could feel the ache in his throat where he unconsciously applied pressure to hold back his tears. His head began to feel light with each short and increasingly labored breath. He had to keep fighting, but for the first time the captain didn't want to. 

That’s when  _he_ appeared. His mirror image, alike in all visage but for a single amber eye. He reached out his hand to pick the young captain off the floor. (Since when had Akashi fallen onto the floor?) Yet there was comfort in the silent gesture. Akashi extended his arm, unashamed to show his need for assistance. 

“Let me take over for now,” his counterpart said in a level voice. Their fingers brushed. 

“No!” Akashi yelled suddenly, memories fluttering into his head at the sudden contact of their fingers. “No, no, no!” 

“Quiet,” the other him snapped. 

The scene had changed completely now. He was no longer on the basketball court at Teikou. He was pushed against the door of his dorm room at Rakuzan, his other self’s hand grabbing his wrist with far too much pressure. 

“I refuse,” Akashi cried, through tears he didn't realize he had begun to shed. “Don’t you know what becomes of us? We hurt Midorima. We make Kuroko cry. We use people for our own selfish needs. I won’t do it again.” 

The pressure around his wrist grew tighter and Akashi could feel his heart stammer into overdrive one more. 

“My orders are absolute,” the mirror image said, coldly, releasing Akashi’s arm, only to shove his chest, sending the weight of his body crashing into the wooden door. Yet Akashi felt no pain at the moment he should have come into contact with the hard surface. Instead he found himself on the other side of his dorm room wall. 

Pushing himself off the floor with his palms, Akashi walked up to the door and slammed it with his fist. 

“Open this door, immediately!” he screamed. When no one responded, he looked around the hallway for help.

That's when it hit him. Three doors down was Reo’s room. There was no need to panic. Akashi knew this building by heart. Or…did he?

There were no other doors in the hallway. It was dark and isolated, stretching out until infinity without another soul in sight. 

Akashi fell to the floor, screaming in heavy sobs, “Please, someone help me! Someone, please!” 

***

Akashi’s red eyes flashed open and he felt a sharp pain beat against his chest. He tried to inhale through his nose, but instead exhaled quickly and open-mouthed. 

“Sei-kun?” a soft and sleepy voice called from beside Akashi, as he felt a warm pair of arms caress his shoulders. “Are you ok?” 

Akashi turned his body to face the brunette beside him, and nodded silently. He could feel the rate of his own pulse in both his chest and neck. 

“A nightmare?” his partner asked, running a finger through his mussed red hair. 

“Yes, Kouki,” Akashi replied, though he panted the words, barely able to breathe. 

“Tell me about it,” Furihata whispered, pulling the breathless redhead into his arms. “Well...I-I mean...o-only if you want to...” he stammered, in somewhat less of a whisper.

Akashi latched his arms around Furihata’s back and dug his fingers into the other man’s nightshirt, clutching the fabric as a child might hold their security blanket. He tried to inhale through his nose again, and this time, was able to do so for the count of three before exhaling. 

“I dreamed that I was playing the one-on-one against Murasakibara again,” Akashi began, his voice shaking with the unsteadiness of his breath. “I saw the other me.” 

“That’s in the past, Sei, it’s just a dream now,” Furihata reassured him, as his fingers continued to run through Akashi’s hair before dropping to his neck and, finally, tracing the line of his spine. 

“It was like he was another person entirely, and I was talking to him,” Akashi continued. He breathed in again -- five counts this time. “I told him no, but suddenly we were in my dorm at Rakuzan and he had me against the wall.” Akashi’s words were coming out faster now, and were strangely animated, given his usual soft spoken manner of speech.

 “He was grabbing onto my wrist,” Akashi continued, “and I couldn't do anything. I was so afraid. And then he pushed me into the hallway, but it was dark and I was all alone.” 

“But you aren’t alone, Sei,” Furihata smiled and squeezed Akashi’s arm. “You’re here with me.” 

“I know,” Akashi sighed. He could tell that his heart rate was beginning to slow, but he still felt an ache in his neck where his pulse had been throbbing before. He tried inhaling slowly again. 

1...2...3...4...5...6...7

He exhaled. 

“It was just a dream,” Akashi said, in a voice that was almost scolding. “I shouldn't be so upset.” 

“But nightmares are  _scary!_ ” Furihata protested. “It’s ok to be afraid of scary things, Sei.” He once again began to trace his fingers across the lining of Akashi’s silk pajamas. 

“Dreams can’t hurt me, Kouki” Akashi sighed. 

“Yes, they can,” Furihata argued, and stopped the movement of his hands. Akashi’s eyes widened. He moved his hands towards Akashi’s waist, and gently prodded the redhead to sit up in bed as he did the same. 

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Akashi stated. 

“Well, nightmares aren’t real, but the things that you are afraid of that cause them are,” Furihata explained. “You’re afraid of having to face the other part of yourself alone. And if you keep worrying about that, it might stress you out.” 

“I appreciate it,” Akashi nodded, with a slight smile, “but I already knew that, and I already am stressed.” 

“But Sei!” Furihata protested. “You don’t get what I’m trying to tell you! You don’t have to face it alone. That’s what I mean. I don’t just mean I’m here in bed with you! I mean you don’t have to worry about the things you worried about at Teikou, because even if you lose I’ll be here. And I’ll love you. Ok?” 

Akashi looked into Furihata’s small brown eyes and nodded. A genuine smile appeared on his face for the first time since the nightmare. 

“Thank you, Kouki,” Akashi said sincerely, leaning over towards the brunette and kissing him chastely on the cheek. “I love you, too.” 

“Do you think you can go back to sleep now?” Furihata asked as Akashi turned himself to lie down on his side once more. 

“Mmhm,” Akashi muttered sleepily. He yawned, exhaling loudly without counting his the length of his breath this time. 

 _Thank you Kouki,_ Akashi thought to himself before he drifted off into sleep once more,  _for helping me to breathe again_. 

 


End file.
